Atlantic City

Timothy Herrick (TIMHRK@aol.com):
This song deals with so many locations, issues and themes, it's hard to grasp
the exact meanings contained in this mesmerizing pastiche. But anyone who has
seen the dismal beaches of Atlantic City can attest to the cold gray sea
part. New Jersey boasts some of the finest beaches in the Northeast U.S., but
A.C. sure is not one of them. People go there to gamble, not to enjoy the
Atlantic. While it used to be a famous resort town, and is still the home of
the Miss America contest, in the late seventies there was a movement among
N.J. voters to bring casino gambling in the hopes it would improve the local
economy. Of course, most of the money to improve the local economy was
embezzled by corrupt N.J. politicians, mostly local to the city.

By the way,
as a resident of N.J., corrupt N.J. politicians is a very redundant
statement. One of Bruce Springsteen's best songs is Atlantic City, about the
Mafia control of the town. It is a long time tradition when the Mafia
families of Philadelphia and New York City have a disagreement, they fight it
out in the streets of Atlantic City. While the casinos still flourish, the
rest of the town is a slum and the boardwalk, which used to attract beach
goers from all over, is a freak show, highlighted by a woman Celeste, who has
no arms or legs, and lying on her stomach on a gurney, plays a casio organ
with her tongue. Unfortunately, the promise of economic improvement from
gambling has taken hold in other American cities, hoping for the false
blessings the A.C. experiment proved to be.

Atlantic City, city (1990 pop. 37,986), SE N.J., an Atlantic resort and
convention center; inc. 1854. On Absecon Island, a sandbar 10 mi (16 km)
long, it was a fishing village until 1854, when the railroad began to
transform it into a fashionable resort. It is known for its 6-mi (9.7-km)
boardwalk, its convention hall, and its Steel Pier (built 1898; burned 1982).
After the state legalized casino gambling there (1976), the city's economy
partially revived.